NEW CROPS DEVELOPED

Subscribe
MOSCOW, SEPTEMBER 11 (RIA Novosti) - Scientists working for the St. Petersburg-based national plant-growing institute, or VNIIR (Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences), as well as German and Finnish counterparts, have crossed wild plants of the Solanaceae family with tomatoes and potatoes to obtain new disease-resistant and pest-resistant crops, capable of withstanding temperature fluctuations, reports the Russian Inform-Nauka scientific news agency.

As is known, wild plants, which can effectively cope with adverse environmental factors, are notorious for their low productivity. Moreover, different plant species don't cross. Even if crossed, their hybrids are infertile. Scientists have now overcome this inter-species barrier with the help of the somatic-hybridization method. They have crossed potato crops with wild Mexican potatoes. The cells of both plant species are stripped of their cover, i.e. protoplasm, and merged into one single whole to bring forth hybrid cells combining both species' gene material and properties. Hybrid tissue has been used for regenerating entire plants. Such plants have been crossed with crops once again, eventually making it possible to obtain stable-genome potatoes. Similar experiments involving tomatoes and their wild "relatives" have also been conducted. VNIIR researchers are often asked when they will develop a tomato-potato hybrid, which is every truck gardener's dream; such plants would feature tomatoes on their branches, as well as potatoes under the ground. German scientists developed such a hybrid back in the 1980s; unfortunately, its tomatoes and potatoes were inedible. Will the problem be solved in the foreseeable future? This is something that remains to be seen.

Newsfeed
0
To participate in the discussion
log in or register
loader
Chats
Заголовок открываемого материала